Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Random thoughts on my top 99 of 1999, part 5.
*
’99 was the year of – as much as it pains me to say it – the Pet Shop Boys’ last great album, Nightlife. From it came two marvelous, classic PSB singles, “I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Anymore” (following in their fine line of absurdly lengthy song titles such as “How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?” and “This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave”) and the discotastic Studio 54 explosion of “New York City Boy.” Neil and Chris are still making intelligent dance/pop, to be sure, but there’s a certain frisson missing, and frankly, I’m not sure they know how to get their groove back. But it’s been great while it’s lasted.
*
Single number four from Lauryn Hill’s astounding solo debut was “Everything Is Everything,” a near-perfect R&B single built around a string section (and not a ballad!). What I remember most about it, however, is its jaw-dropping video, featuring New York City (or at least Manhattan) as a record being played. Timeless.
*
I know it’s incredibly uncool to prefer current Manic Street Preachers to the “Richey era,” such as it was, but I do, and don’t care, not when they’re making majestic, epic songs like the elegiac “S.Y.M.M.” Yes, it’s a bit heavy-handed, but let’s not kid ourselves – subtlety’s never been one of their selling points, has it?
*
The comeback was going so well, and then the wheels came off. Crack is wack, you know. At least we got a slew of great singles out of it, including “Heartbreak Hotel,” wherein Whitney Houston, Faith Evans, and Kelly Price do their finest diva-wails over a discreetly tasteful R&B track, and the classic-in-any-era “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay,” not only a superb cheating song (from the other side, that of the one being cheated on) but, as remixed by Thunderpuss, the greatest remix of 1999, and a gay club anthem for current and future generations.
*
The fact that Maxwell always seems as if he’s about to cry bothers me, a little. His use of the phrasing “tasty lips” in “Fortunate” leaves me diffident, as well. Yet the pure romance dripping from every syllable, every note of the song thrills me inexorably.
*
Compiling a list of 99 songs, and then having to rank them, left me a bit fatigued – that’s the only way I know to explain away my #1 of the year, a song which didn’t even come close to my top 90 of the ‘90s, uneasily perched atop the heap. I made a mistake. I was wrong. And, really, if it comes down to brass tacks, I think a much better choice would’ve been the single which I placed at #5: Chris Rock’s “No Sex.” It was set forth as a parody of Baz Luhrmann’s “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen),” but far surpassed the subject of its satire as I brilliantly, blindingly funny record. Chris did his thing – and as the funniest motherfucker in America for going on what, over a half-decade now? His “thing” is pure gold. [“If a girl has a pierced tongue, she’ll probably suck your dick. (pause) If a guy has a pierced tongue, he’ll probably suck your dick.” … “Here’s a horoscope for everyone: Aquarius, you’re gonna die… Gemini, you’re gonna die twice,” et cetera, ad infinitum.] But what truly makes the record even more than Prince Paul’s plushtastic R&B production job is the secret weapon: Gerald Levert. He sings his big black azz all over “No Sex,” actually giving it the feel of an R&B record. Hearing his rich, thick, gorgeous voice crooning “no sex in the champagne room, no sex in the champagne room” is riotously, pants-wettingly hilarious. Chris Rock knows what he’s motherfucking doing, and no one was doing it better in ’99 – nor is anyone, now.
*
The year’s truly transcendent rock single, bar none, came from an unlikely source, I’ve always thought. Sure, the Flaming Lips were entertaining, made some interesting acid-soaked Beefhart-cum-Zappa-via-Butthole Surfers records, even made an appearance on 090210 because of their novelty hit about a girl who liked tangerines. Suddenly, then, they made a stunning triumph with The Soft Bulletin, a fine album with an even finer lead single, “Race for the Prize,” about scientists searching for a cure for a deadly disease (!). And it worked, in spades. It’s weird, it’s funny, it’s classic-sounding, it’s art, it’s thought-provoking, and most of all, it’s grand.
*
It’s perverse to me that the best single by Busta Rhymes, in my estimation, is his collabo featuring Janet - Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty, and she certainly is. It’s basically an R&B sex song, but with a certain twist, a je ne sais quoi, even – which is, of course, Busta’s weird factor. Don’t deny it; even as he begins to stoop to low means of commercial success, there’s not anyone (nor has there ever been) like him in hiphop, either the culture or the genre. Against all odds, “What’s It Gonna Be?!” works, which of course makes it all the better.
*
My #1 single of ’99 was, misguidedly, George Michael and Mary J. Blige’s cover of Stevie Wonder’s “As,” the first import to get such a designation (it was available only on overseas copies of George’s best of, Ladies and Gentlemen). It’s quite lovely, a perfectly done cover of a classic song. And that’s all I have to say about it.
*
’99 was the year of – as much as it pains me to say it – the Pet Shop Boys’ last great album, Nightlife. From it came two marvelous, classic PSB singles, “I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Anymore” (following in their fine line of absurdly lengthy song titles such as “How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?” and “This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave”) and the discotastic Studio 54 explosion of “New York City Boy.” Neil and Chris are still making intelligent dance/pop, to be sure, but there’s a certain frisson missing, and frankly, I’m not sure they know how to get their groove back. But it’s been great while it’s lasted.
*
Single number four from Lauryn Hill’s astounding solo debut was “Everything Is Everything,” a near-perfect R&B single built around a string section (and not a ballad!). What I remember most about it, however, is its jaw-dropping video, featuring New York City (or at least Manhattan) as a record being played. Timeless.
*
I know it’s incredibly uncool to prefer current Manic Street Preachers to the “Richey era,” such as it was, but I do, and don’t care, not when they’re making majestic, epic songs like the elegiac “S.Y.M.M.” Yes, it’s a bit heavy-handed, but let’s not kid ourselves – subtlety’s never been one of their selling points, has it?
*
The comeback was going so well, and then the wheels came off. Crack is wack, you know. At least we got a slew of great singles out of it, including “Heartbreak Hotel,” wherein Whitney Houston, Faith Evans, and Kelly Price do their finest diva-wails over a discreetly tasteful R&B track, and the classic-in-any-era “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay,” not only a superb cheating song (from the other side, that of the one being cheated on) but, as remixed by Thunderpuss, the greatest remix of 1999, and a gay club anthem for current and future generations.
*
The fact that Maxwell always seems as if he’s about to cry bothers me, a little. His use of the phrasing “tasty lips” in “Fortunate” leaves me diffident, as well. Yet the pure romance dripping from every syllable, every note of the song thrills me inexorably.
*
Compiling a list of 99 songs, and then having to rank them, left me a bit fatigued – that’s the only way I know to explain away my #1 of the year, a song which didn’t even come close to my top 90 of the ‘90s, uneasily perched atop the heap. I made a mistake. I was wrong. And, really, if it comes down to brass tacks, I think a much better choice would’ve been the single which I placed at #5: Chris Rock’s “No Sex.” It was set forth as a parody of Baz Luhrmann’s “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen),” but far surpassed the subject of its satire as I brilliantly, blindingly funny record. Chris did his thing – and as the funniest motherfucker in America for going on what, over a half-decade now? His “thing” is pure gold. [“If a girl has a pierced tongue, she’ll probably suck your dick. (pause) If a guy has a pierced tongue, he’ll probably suck your dick.” … “Here’s a horoscope for everyone: Aquarius, you’re gonna die… Gemini, you’re gonna die twice,” et cetera, ad infinitum.] But what truly makes the record even more than Prince Paul’s plushtastic R&B production job is the secret weapon: Gerald Levert. He sings his big black azz all over “No Sex,” actually giving it the feel of an R&B record. Hearing his rich, thick, gorgeous voice crooning “no sex in the champagne room, no sex in the champagne room” is riotously, pants-wettingly hilarious. Chris Rock knows what he’s motherfucking doing, and no one was doing it better in ’99 – nor is anyone, now.
*
The year’s truly transcendent rock single, bar none, came from an unlikely source, I’ve always thought. Sure, the Flaming Lips were entertaining, made some interesting acid-soaked Beefhart-cum-Zappa-via-Butthole Surfers records, even made an appearance on 090210 because of their novelty hit about a girl who liked tangerines. Suddenly, then, they made a stunning triumph with The Soft Bulletin, a fine album with an even finer lead single, “Race for the Prize,” about scientists searching for a cure for a deadly disease (!). And it worked, in spades. It’s weird, it’s funny, it’s classic-sounding, it’s art, it’s thought-provoking, and most of all, it’s grand.
*
It’s perverse to me that the best single by Busta Rhymes, in my estimation, is his collabo featuring Janet - Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty, and she certainly is. It’s basically an R&B sex song, but with a certain twist, a je ne sais quoi, even – which is, of course, Busta’s weird factor. Don’t deny it; even as he begins to stoop to low means of commercial success, there’s not anyone (nor has there ever been) like him in hiphop, either the culture or the genre. Against all odds, “What’s It Gonna Be?!” works, which of course makes it all the better.
*
My #1 single of ’99 was, misguidedly, George Michael and Mary J. Blige’s cover of Stevie Wonder’s “As,” the first import to get such a designation (it was available only on overseas copies of George’s best of, Ladies and Gentlemen). It’s quite lovely, a perfectly done cover of a classic song. And that’s all I have to say about it.
# posted by Thomas : 1:46 PM
